Daily Digit: Movies with diverse casts make more money

Daily Digit is the story behind the numbers that make our world work. Today we’re looking at Hollywood’s diversity problem. While minorities make up 37.1 percent of the U.S. population, only 13.9 percent of lead roles in Hollywood films go to people of color. However, new data released by UCLA and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) shows that’s actually bad for business. For the 10 top-grossing films in 2016, 47 percent of opening weekend audiences were nonwhite, and that percentage has grown in 2017 and 2018. Simply put: Movies with diverse casts and audiences make more money — about $19 million more on average.